This year, New York’s spring marathon of evening auctions will be different from 2015. Usually a five auction, three-house-affair, spread across two weeks, this season will see six evening auctions crammed into one week only.
The sales will begin on Sunday 8 May, with Christie’s curated contemporary sale, Bound to Fail. From there, bidders will have to move quickly from the auction house’s Rockefeller Center headquarters to Park Avenue for Phillips’ contemporary sale. Sotheby’s Impressionist and Modern sale, on York Avenue, follows on Monday 9 May, after which come Christie’s contemporary sale on Tuesday 10 May and Sotheby’s contemporary sale on Wednesday 11 May. Rounding off the week will be Christie’s Impressionist and Modern sale on Thursday 12 May.
The calendar change is no doubt related to Frieze New York, which runs on the previous week (5-8 May). The fair is held in a large tent on Randall’s Island, an islet between Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan. This complicates travel significantly for anyone needing to head elsewhere in the city. Since 2012, the year of Frieze New York’s first edition, this has made things tricky for collectors trying to reach the evening sales, which usually begin at 7pm sharp.
“Reflecting today’s market, and in response to evolving taste, Sotheby’s will present one week of auctions preceded by a dynamic, ten-day exhibition,” Sotheby’s said in a statement that did not specifically make reference to Frieze. Neither Phillips nor Christie’s would comment on the newly condensed schedule.